Lee Fails To Plug Okeechobee Tap

Lee County's effort to stop billions of gallons of Lake Okeechobee water from being flushed down the Caloosahatchee River through Southwest Florida failed Wednesday.

Circuit Judge Lynn Gerald Jr. rejected the county's request for an injunction against the South Florida Water Management District, which began "emergency" releases to swiftly lower water levels in a swollen Lake Okeechobee by June 1.

But while ruling in favor of the water district, Gerald chided water district officials and questioned whether the situation qualified as a true emergency.

"I wish these things were easier" Gerald said after returning from a few minutes of deliberation. "It bothers me the perception here," he said. "People don't mind taking the bitter pill if there is rationality."

The perception, the judge said, is the district lacked a good rationale for discharging huge volumes of lake water out the Caloosahatchee, its western drainpipe.

But under state statute, the county can only challenge the district on procedure, and the water district has not broken any laws or regulations, Gerald said.

The decision nearly knocked the wind out of Tammi Heeb, whose family depends on the clam farms just outside the mouth of the Caloosahatchee River. Lee County had argued the huge fresh water flows would harm clams and other organisms that thrive in a mix of salt and fresh water there.

"There goes my last hope down the toilet," said Heeb, who makes clam bags for aquaculture farmers like her husband, who raises the mollusks. "It will kill everything."

District General Counsel John Fumero, who likened Lee County's injunction request to asking the judge "to unplug the respirator for Lake Okeechobee," said the decision reaffirms regional over "parochial" water management.

Officials in Okeechobee County, on the north end of the 730-square-mile lake, were pleased with the ruling, but disagreed that the situation might be less than dire.

"We have lost 55,000 to 60,000 acres of prime fishing habitat due to the high water levels," said Mack "Hoot" Worley, director of the Economic Council of Okeechobee. Ninety percent of the lake's year-old bass are gone, too, he said.

"The district governing board voted April 25 for big-volume lake releases that are dumping almost 2 million gallons a day of water down the Caloosahatchee River, but Lee County sought to have that cut back dramatically. Lake water also is being flushed out the St. Lucie Canal to the east, and south into the Everglades. The aim was to drop the lake 2 feet before the start of the summer rainy season, and the water district is more than halfway toward that goal.

Okeechobee County Manager George Long said Caloosahatchee discharges are necessary to revive what he called "a one-of-a-kind ecological tourist heaven."

Neil Santaniello can be reached at nsantaniello@sun-sentinel.com or 561-243-6625.